On May 16th, 2009, the Election Commission of India announced the results of its recent month-long India-wide election for their lower house of Parliament - the largest democratic election in the world. An estimated 714 million voters (from a population of 1.2 billion) were eligible to cast their vote in one of five separate phases at over 800,000 polling stations, starting on April 16th. Logistically difficult, massive in scale, and opposed by various rebel groups, separatists and protestors, the elections still managed to be held with minimal disruption, with an average voter turnout of greater than 56%. The big winner was the the Indian National Congress party, which will form the new government under the incumbent prime minister Manmohan Singh. As with any photo story from India, it is impossible to capture every aspect in just a handful of pictures - collected here are only some of the scenes that played out across the nation over the last month. (40 photos total)

A woman shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote at a polling station in Sonapur, about 50 km (31 miles) from Guwahati, India on April 23, 2009. Millions of Indians voted in this, the second stage of a month-long general election. (REUTERS/Utpal Baruah)

Fans of Indian movie star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi wave the actor's Praja Rajyam Party flags and listen to him speak during an election campaign in Vijayawada, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Thursday, April 16, 2009. Chiranjeevi, the beloved hero of 149 adventure-romance films, has quickly become a political force since leaving Tollywood, the Telugu-language film industry that he ruled for three decades, to found his own party and contest elections in the key state of Andhra Pradesh. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) #

A voter walks towards a polling station to cast her ballot in Bapally, 110 km (68 miles) west of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, April 16, 2009. With Maoist insurgents stepping up attacks, tens of millions of Indians began voting in a month-long general election. (REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder) #

A supporter of the Nationalist Congress Party shows his head shaved in the shape of the party symbol, a clock during a rally addressed by Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, unseen, in Mumbai, India, Sunday, April 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh) #

A Muslim man shows his ink-marked finger after casting his ballot at a polling station in Tiamari village, about 280 km (174 miles) west from Guwahati, India on April 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri) #

A man casts his vote at a polling centre during the fourth phase of India's general elections in Kadat Village near Abu Road in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan May 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Arko Datta) #

Portraits depicting Indian movie star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, left and right, are seen painted alongside former Andhra Pradesh state chief minister late N.T. Rama Rao, center, on a cycle rickshaw during an election campaign in Vijayawada, India on Thursday, April 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) #

A voter shows her in-marked thumb after casting her ballot at Bhaderwah, about 200 km (124 miles) north of Jammu, during the second phase of the country's general election April 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Amit Gupta) #

Women peer out from their veils as they stand in a queue to their votes at Jigna village in Rae Bareli, the constituency where Congress party President Sonia Gandhi is standing for re-election, India, Thursday, April 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) #

Ladakhi women queue outside a polling station as they wait to cast their vote in a village of Ladakh in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on on May 13, 2009, in the last phase of the general elections. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Voters cross the Chenab valley on a cable car to cast their ballot in Doda, about 175 km (109 miles) north of Jammu, during the second phase of the country's general election April 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Amit Gupta) #

A monk, who is also a voter, drags a polling agent outside a polling station in Thiksey, 20 km (12 miles) east of Leh, May 13, 2009. The voters claimed that the polling agent was involved in false voting. (REUTERS/Amit Gupta) #

A man displays the indelible ink mark on his index finger after casting his vote, outside a polling station in Sonapur village, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Gauhati, India, Thursday, April 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) #

Voters smile and show their ink-marked fingers after casting their ballots at a polling station at Pargi village, 120 km (75 miles) west of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad April 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder) #

Chief of India's ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi (left) and India's Prime Minister-elect Manmohan Singh (2nd from left) smile during the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting at the central hall of the Indian parliament in New Delhi May 19, 2009. India's Congress party unanimously elected Manmohan Singh as leader of the Congress Parliamentary party on Tuesday, setting the stage for his appointment as prime minister, a Reuters reporter said. (REUTERS/B Mathur) #